Space Cookies / Substrate Wars

Well this is giving nice data for the indoor experiment, they are still growing at very different and predictable speeds, please, this is not a genetics review, we’re testing the setup. Day 22 #1 peat seeding mix very small pot 8 inches she had the best setup and is the largest and healthiest plant at 8 inch, fertigated every 2 days to run off and pushed to grow fast but.. the last few days she’s needed daily watering and she looks sad at the end of the light cycle. Roots growing from her stem base and coming out the bottom, she’s root bound of course and needs out of this pot or we’re going to have real problems. But she’s an auto and that’s exactly why we can’t use the small pot. We expect no advantage over her overwatered sisters now because she’s going to have to deal with the transplant shock. Yes she should get potted up in more of the same substrate for best chance but don’t have more and don’t want to buy more, so fuck it, we are upgrading to promix cx grow bag with ´biostimulant’ for curiosity. I enjoy the brief moment of watching the brick rehydrate 😌a squeeze of the little pot and gently tapped out, didn’t touch the roots, planted into charged coco grow bag, watered in with full strength feed and some vitathrive and dimmed her light 50% for one cycle 🤞 #2 peat/soil 11l pot 4 inch She is the middle girl and she’s average in every way, watered 3-5 days, getting easier as judge water as she grows, didn’t like direct wind but doesn’t seem upset with leaves removed and is responding nicely to short Ponytailing sessions. For over all this growth is as expected the ‘lightened’ soil is working better than soil alone, but far heavier than no soil at all. Her growth is only slightly faster than soil in fabric pots. #3 potting soil 11l pot 3.5 inch watered 4-6 days, didn’t like the wind either but didn’t show severe damage so didn’t remove anything (there’s nothing removable!) well she’s still unhappy about it, she’s been struggling from the beginning because it’s heavy for her roots to expand and her canopy is so narrow but she seems determined to try nonetheless. If anyone deserves a change of substrate it is this lady but it’s not happening. Added more drainage holes, is all we can do. She’s going to be one of those unintentional bonsais and I’m sure when I dig her up her root ball will be tiny. I’m loving the representation of things we all know 🙃 seedlings in large pots are disadvantaged with watering, plastic pots take longer to dry out (good for the little pot, unfortunate for the oversized pots), soil that’s amazing for perennials is too heavy for annuals, and treating fast growing crops like houseplants will surely send them to their watery graves I continue supporting these plants to best express their natural self in poor conditions 😂 they are truly struggling plants so I’m adding vitathrive to the feed going forward to give them a little extra support and only very gentle short ponytailing sessions as needed to encourage the branches. *** Day 24 and stunted #3 has started flowering 😂 she’s going to be a truly pathetic yield 😂 I’d toss her but I’m enjoying this. Man, I really hope I do better with these seeds outside 😂